Showing posts with label Pix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pix. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Lil'Bro Gets Baptized!
Can I get an AMEN?! Woo hoo!
Both of my boys have an amazing faith. It blows my mind the kinds of questions they ask and topics they discuss. At their ages (7 & 10), I believed. But I'm not sure I understood the whole relationship with God thing. The church I grew up in never taught us about that. Or if they did, I didn't get it.
My boys get it. So when Lil'Bro said he wanted to get baptized, absolutely! Woo hoo!
This is especially sweet because it will be the last month our head pastors are with us. Both of my boys got baptized by pastors Michelle & Kenny. I know the who doesn't matter. But I'm glad for it anyway.
If you look back to BigBro's baptism in Sept 2009, you'll see a bit of difference in my two boys. BigBro took some coaxing (he had just learned how to go fully under water). Lil'Bro jumped right in!
The Ex, my parents, my BigSis and her TallGuy were all in attendance. I didn't get to snap a picture with my parents. DOH!
Enjoy the pix!
Lil'Bro, TM, HM & RM all contemplate the trough as pastor Kenny talks.
Kenny asked who wanted to go first. After a small pause, Lil'Bro climbed right in!
Kenny asking Lil'Bro if he accepts Jesus as his savior. And you know he DOES!
Lil'Bro wanted to do it himself. After 2 attempts, he successfully fully dunked.
A fully baptized Lil'Bro!
Pastors Michelle & Kenny. Love these guys!
Lil'Bro with a proud uncle TallGuy and aunt BigSis!
Both of my boys have an amazing faith. It blows my mind the kinds of questions they ask and topics they discuss. At their ages (7 & 10), I believed. But I'm not sure I understood the whole relationship with God thing. The church I grew up in never taught us about that. Or if they did, I didn't get it.
My boys get it. So when Lil'Bro said he wanted to get baptized, absolutely! Woo hoo!
This is especially sweet because it will be the last month our head pastors are with us. Both of my boys got baptized by pastors Michelle & Kenny. I know the who doesn't matter. But I'm glad for it anyway.
If you look back to BigBro's baptism in Sept 2009, you'll see a bit of difference in my two boys. BigBro took some coaxing (he had just learned how to go fully under water). Lil'Bro jumped right in!
The Ex, my parents, my BigSis and her TallGuy were all in attendance. I didn't get to snap a picture with my parents. DOH!
Enjoy the pix!
Lil'Bro, TM, HM & RM all contemplate the trough as pastor Kenny talks.
Kenny asked who wanted to go first. After a small pause, Lil'Bro climbed right in!
Kenny asking Lil'Bro if he accepts Jesus as his savior. And you know he DOES!
Lil'Bro wanted to do it himself. After 2 attempts, he successfully fully dunked.
A fully baptized Lil'Bro!
Pastors Michelle & Kenny. Love these guys!
Lil'Bro with a proud uncle TallGuy and aunt BigSis!
Friday, February 04, 2011
Snow Day for Texas!
I've been taking a beating from my friends in the north over my Facebook postings about our cold snap. Today, I'm sure I'll be taking a beating over the pictures I've posted of our snow day.
Since humans are such one-uppers in nature, we've always seen scenarios where you say something and someone has to start out, "That's NOTHING," and launches into how their similar experience was more intense, more scary, more wonderful, more SOMEthing. It has always driven me nuts. Especially when they have to go the scary route. It's like, hey, here's the most wonderful news of my life! I'm getting married/having a baby/whatever and then some competitive Debbie Downer has to pipe in with horror stories of the worst pregnancy or emergency c-section or someone having a heart attack at their wedding. Seriously?
So now with all these social networking sites, everyone can lob their competitive negativity from the comfort and safety of their couch, bed or armchair. Which has spurred me to invent an app where I can punch them in the neck from the safety of MINE.
Texas has been having a cold snap. It has been cold by anyone's standards. I'm a 20 year Boston veteran and a 4 degree wind chill still makes me think, Yah, that's pretty damned cold. I totally get that there are other parts of this world where 4 degrees is downright balmy and they'd be putting on the shorts and tank tops. But in TEXAS, people - where I LIVE now - that is the kind of cold most people are not prepared for. If you're a transplant like me, you have a nice sub-zero LLBean jacket, about 3 pair of snow boots and a myriad of hats and gloves. But lots of folks down here suffer through the few really cold days layering hoodies. Why spend the money for just a few days a year? So when we get a few weeks of below freezing weather, that's shocking. Especially when the day before saw near 80 degree warmth.
So for all my northern friends that love posting their "Suck it up, you big pansy" comments, yah, I got it. I wouldn't trade your 952 feet of snow for my cold snap for anything. That's one reason I moved down here. (Well it was housing prices but I've grown to love the mild short winters here.) But I have some friends in Canada that would love to post similar snotty remarks on your snow whining posts. But I digress into snotty land.
Roll your eyes or not, we got SNOW today. And underneath it, there was ice. I don't care where you live, smart people don't drive on that stuff if they don't have to. Or unless they have the vehicles to tackle that. So schools are closed. My state agency is closed. We got ourselves a real honest to goodness snow day! Only the second one due to snow that I've seen in the 5 years I've been down here. We had ice storms that close things. But only 2 snow days.
When you live somewhere that never gets something, it's a huge deal when you finally get that something. Even a tiny bit of that something. We are loving it. And as a former Bostonian, I'm glad it's just small enough to not have to shovel anything.
The Boy lovin' the snow (wearing some of my Sorrell snow boots)
My thick Mickey Mouse PJs and my Timberland boots
A cute, cold and happy Lil'Bro
The back of my house
Frozen and about to come back in
Since humans are such one-uppers in nature, we've always seen scenarios where you say something and someone has to start out, "That's NOTHING," and launches into how their similar experience was more intense, more scary, more wonderful, more SOMEthing. It has always driven me nuts. Especially when they have to go the scary route. It's like, hey, here's the most wonderful news of my life! I'm getting married/having a baby/whatever and then some competitive Debbie Downer has to pipe in with horror stories of the worst pregnancy or emergency c-section or someone having a heart attack at their wedding. Seriously?
So now with all these social networking sites, everyone can lob their competitive negativity from the comfort and safety of their couch, bed or armchair. Which has spurred me to invent an app where I can punch them in the neck from the safety of MINE.
Texas has been having a cold snap. It has been cold by anyone's standards. I'm a 20 year Boston veteran and a 4 degree wind chill still makes me think, Yah, that's pretty damned cold. I totally get that there are other parts of this world where 4 degrees is downright balmy and they'd be putting on the shorts and tank tops. But in TEXAS, people - where I LIVE now - that is the kind of cold most people are not prepared for. If you're a transplant like me, you have a nice sub-zero LLBean jacket, about 3 pair of snow boots and a myriad of hats and gloves. But lots of folks down here suffer through the few really cold days layering hoodies. Why spend the money for just a few days a year? So when we get a few weeks of below freezing weather, that's shocking. Especially when the day before saw near 80 degree warmth.
So for all my northern friends that love posting their "Suck it up, you big pansy" comments, yah, I got it. I wouldn't trade your 952 feet of snow for my cold snap for anything. That's one reason I moved down here. (Well it was housing prices but I've grown to love the mild short winters here.) But I have some friends in Canada that would love to post similar snotty remarks on your snow whining posts. But I digress into snotty land.
Roll your eyes or not, we got SNOW today. And underneath it, there was ice. I don't care where you live, smart people don't drive on that stuff if they don't have to. Or unless they have the vehicles to tackle that. So schools are closed. My state agency is closed. We got ourselves a real honest to goodness snow day! Only the second one due to snow that I've seen in the 5 years I've been down here. We had ice storms that close things. But only 2 snow days.
When you live somewhere that never gets something, it's a huge deal when you finally get that something. Even a tiny bit of that something. We are loving it. And as a former Bostonian, I'm glad it's just small enough to not have to shovel anything.
The Boy lovin' the snow (wearing some of my Sorrell snow boots)
My thick Mickey Mouse PJs and my Timberland boots
A cute, cold and happy Lil'Bro
The back of my house
Frozen and about to come back in
Monday, January 24, 2011
Outlets for Rage
As I may have mentioned here, BigBro feels things very deeply or with great strength. He is passionate about things he loves. His compassion and empathy can be his undoing. His capacity to love has always amazed me.
When things lean to the negative side, it is with equal power. His play therapist is really helping him with this. But he still has those moments when he has such overwhelmingly strong emotions, he doesn't know what to do with them.
Around Christmas, he had a pretty big meltdown. He is still processing his feelings about our divorce. He is extremely smart and tries to process everything. However, without full knowledge of exactly how our divorce came about, he is very confused and angry.
As he sat there trying to explain his anger, I noticed his clenched fists at his side. He was yelling to me about how he hates the divorce and doesn't even know who to blame (ie - me or dad). I could see the wound tension in him. And it brought me right back to being that little kid that was trying to deal with something completely out of my control. Something that I hated (usually a punishment or explanation of why I couldn't have/do something). I knew there was nothing I could do to change it. But my rage was overwhelming. My memories of these times bring back visions of pure white rage taking over my sight. I remember wanting to break or hit something. I didn't want to HURT anyone. Or break anything important. I just needed to punch something or feel something break.
As I sat listening to BigBro venting and hurting, it killed me. I totally recognized the bottled rage. I asked him, "You probably feel like hitting something, don't you?" He threw his face to the ceiling and screamed "YEEEEESSSSSS!" Ugh. Man do I get it.
We did a lot of talking. I did a lot of listening. I related some of my memories from my own frustrations as a kid. I wanted to let him know that I understood what he was feeling and he wasn't insane to feel it. We also prayed. A lot!
I wasn't able to get him to his play therapist for another 3 weeks. And it helped. But I can see the underlying anger and confusion always threatening to undo him in those moments of frustration.
I talked to my mom about a punching bag. In high school, when I was still dealing with becoming part of a blended family and full of rage and anger, a friend showed me how to use one of those smaller wall-mounted punching bags that you always see boxers hitting. Bippity bappity bippity bappity. I got pretty good. When I needed to, I just whaled on that thing. My mom and I thought it would be good for both boys to have something to pound on.
But I wanted to check with their therapist. I know there can be a fine line between allowing for a physical outlet and encouraging violence as a solution to frustration. I sent the therapist an email explaining what I had seen, my own experience of wanting to hit things, and our thoughts about a punching bag. He wrote back, "I think [BigBro] has enough cognitive wherewithal to use that as a coping skill in the moment without any carryover consequences. A lot of parents use martial arts classes for the same purpose. Sounds like a good idea."
As I've stated in multiple posts, my parents ROCK. As soon as I shared that email with my mom, she and dad went to the local ginormous sporting goods store. They talked to a sales guy, explaining what and who it was for. He suggested a 70 lb hanging heavy bag. He also warned about their developing bones and not to let them punch it with their bare hands.
This past weekend, mom & dad came and assembled the stand in my garage. Then my awesome neighbor Alex came over and hoisted the bag up so we could hang it on the hook.
The next day, mom took both boys to the afore mentioned sporting goods store and got them each a pair of boxing gloves in their size. Then she brought them home, got them on the computer and showed them a YouTube boxing tutorial video she had researched. BigBro watched the whole thing. Lil'Bro hopped around posing in his new gloves and didn't watch.
When the boys were ready to try out the new heavy bag, BigBro walked up and punched it exactly like the tutorial showed. He got his feet in the right position, shoulder down, jab jab PUNCH! It was pretty cool. Lil'Bro walked up and started flailing at it. So I slowed him down, had him step back and reminded him of his kung fu lessons. He paused and then huh huh PUNCH! Great form!
BigBro testing out some boxing moves:
Lil'Bro (with helmet!) trying out some kung fu moves:
So both boys are enjoying the heavy bag. And I have to admit, I took off my antique ring to have a few hits. My Ex asked if I've put any pictures on there yet to motivate me. Ha! I just may. I just may.
I feel like BigBro will have some options for anger outlets. He knows the main reason my parents got the bag is for his benefit. But I think our whole little family will benefit.
When things lean to the negative side, it is with equal power. His play therapist is really helping him with this. But he still has those moments when he has such overwhelmingly strong emotions, he doesn't know what to do with them.
Around Christmas, he had a pretty big meltdown. He is still processing his feelings about our divorce. He is extremely smart and tries to process everything. However, without full knowledge of exactly how our divorce came about, he is very confused and angry.
As he sat there trying to explain his anger, I noticed his clenched fists at his side. He was yelling to me about how he hates the divorce and doesn't even know who to blame (ie - me or dad). I could see the wound tension in him. And it brought me right back to being that little kid that was trying to deal with something completely out of my control. Something that I hated (usually a punishment or explanation of why I couldn't have/do something). I knew there was nothing I could do to change it. But my rage was overwhelming. My memories of these times bring back visions of pure white rage taking over my sight. I remember wanting to break or hit something. I didn't want to HURT anyone. Or break anything important. I just needed to punch something or feel something break.
As I sat listening to BigBro venting and hurting, it killed me. I totally recognized the bottled rage. I asked him, "You probably feel like hitting something, don't you?" He threw his face to the ceiling and screamed "YEEEEESSSSSS!" Ugh. Man do I get it.
We did a lot of talking. I did a lot of listening. I related some of my memories from my own frustrations as a kid. I wanted to let him know that I understood what he was feeling and he wasn't insane to feel it. We also prayed. A lot!
I wasn't able to get him to his play therapist for another 3 weeks. And it helped. But I can see the underlying anger and confusion always threatening to undo him in those moments of frustration.
I talked to my mom about a punching bag. In high school, when I was still dealing with becoming part of a blended family and full of rage and anger, a friend showed me how to use one of those smaller wall-mounted punching bags that you always see boxers hitting. Bippity bappity bippity bappity. I got pretty good. When I needed to, I just whaled on that thing. My mom and I thought it would be good for both boys to have something to pound on.
But I wanted to check with their therapist. I know there can be a fine line between allowing for a physical outlet and encouraging violence as a solution to frustration. I sent the therapist an email explaining what I had seen, my own experience of wanting to hit things, and our thoughts about a punching bag. He wrote back, "I think [BigBro] has enough cognitive wherewithal to use that as a coping skill in the moment without any carryover consequences. A lot of parents use martial arts classes for the same purpose. Sounds like a good idea."
As I've stated in multiple posts, my parents ROCK. As soon as I shared that email with my mom, she and dad went to the local ginormous sporting goods store. They talked to a sales guy, explaining what and who it was for. He suggested a 70 lb hanging heavy bag. He also warned about their developing bones and not to let them punch it with their bare hands.
This past weekend, mom & dad came and assembled the stand in my garage. Then my awesome neighbor Alex came over and hoisted the bag up so we could hang it on the hook.
The next day, mom took both boys to the afore mentioned sporting goods store and got them each a pair of boxing gloves in their size. Then she brought them home, got them on the computer and showed them a YouTube boxing tutorial video she had researched. BigBro watched the whole thing. Lil'Bro hopped around posing in his new gloves and didn't watch.When the boys were ready to try out the new heavy bag, BigBro walked up and punched it exactly like the tutorial showed. He got his feet in the right position, shoulder down, jab jab PUNCH! It was pretty cool. Lil'Bro walked up and started flailing at it. So I slowed him down, had him step back and reminded him of his kung fu lessons. He paused and then huh huh PUNCH! Great form!
BigBro testing out some boxing moves:
Lil'Bro (with helmet!) trying out some kung fu moves:
So both boys are enjoying the heavy bag. And I have to admit, I took off my antique ring to have a few hits. My Ex asked if I've put any pictures on there yet to motivate me. Ha! I just may. I just may.
I feel like BigBro will have some options for anger outlets. He knows the main reason my parents got the bag is for his benefit. But I think our whole little family will benefit.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Wikkid Smaht Kids
Our elementary school gives out awards for grades, perfect attendance, and other types of good citizenship in a school environment. They give out dog tags. I think it's so cool.
The younger grades (K & 1st) always try to make sure each kid gets some kind of dog tag. So there's the birthday dog tag, the perfect attendance, school pride, good student, etc. The 5th graders are a little more sparse.
Lil'Bro got two: Birthday and I think something like Paw Pride.
BigBro got one: A/B Honor Roll.
Proving once again my boys are wikkid smaht and must have been switched at the hospital with the kids of some couple from MIT or Harvard. (hee hee)
The younger grades (K & 1st) always try to make sure each kid gets some kind of dog tag. So there's the birthday dog tag, the perfect attendance, school pride, good student, etc. The 5th graders are a little more sparse.
Lil'Bro got two: Birthday and I think something like Paw Pride.
BigBro got one: A/B Honor Roll.
Proving once again my boys are wikkid smaht and must have been switched at the hospital with the kids of some couple from MIT or Harvard. (hee hee)
Monday, December 27, 2010
Christmas in Pictures
CHRISTMAS EVE:
Stockings hung and Santa presents out.
Presents are put out under/around the tree.
One shot with no flash just because...
CHRISTMAS MORNING:
BigBro opening his stocking.
Lil'Bro opening his stocking.
Traditional Christmas breakfast in this house! YUM!
Nerf swords from my brother's family.
I think he was opening Bakugan near the computer so he could upload them onto the website.
Lil'Bro and The Ex work on assembling the Lego Star Wars set Santa left.
My new bracelet from my awesome sis-in-law.
CHRISTMAS AFTERNOON:
My mom's Christmas tree.
BigBro doing some magic from his new Criss Angel magic kit (with Lil'Bro as his assistant).
My nephew Sid enjoys his new rope bone.
BigBro opening something big from my parents.
Mom & Dad with a Katharine Hepburn DVD set from my sister.
Lil'Bro rockin' some killer guitar faces with his new Paper Jamz flying V!
The End.
Stockings hung and Santa presents out.
Presents are put out under/around the tree.
One shot with no flash just because...
CHRISTMAS MORNING:BigBro opening his stocking.
Lil'Bro opening his stocking.
Traditional Christmas breakfast in this house! YUM!
Nerf swords from my brother's family.
I think he was opening Bakugan near the computer so he could upload them onto the website.
Lil'Bro and The Ex work on assembling the Lego Star Wars set Santa left.
My new bracelet from my awesome sis-in-law.
CHRISTMAS AFTERNOON:My mom's Christmas tree.
BigBro doing some magic from his new Criss Angel magic kit (with Lil'Bro as his assistant).
My nephew Sid enjoys his new rope bone.
BigBro opening something big from my parents.
Mom & Dad with a Katharine Hepburn DVD set from my sister.
Lil'Bro rockin' some killer guitar faces with his new Paper Jamz flying V!
The End.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
The Birthday Lil'Bro - in Pictures
Pre-carnage. Ready for the unwrapping mayhem!
Mario action figure!
Lego Star Wars - General Grievous Starfighter.
Art supplies and table easel from Nana!
Bowling mayhem with his best buds. Complete with cool kung fu moves.
BigBro watching his pals (all the older siblings).
Lil'Bro trying a split. "Ooooooow! This huuuuuuuuurts!"
I love this shot of Lil'Bro riding the ball return.
The 4 Mustketeers. They've been together since preschool. That was almost 3 years ago!
The End
Mario action figure!
Lego Star Wars - General Grievous Starfighter.
Art supplies and table easel from Nana!
Bowling mayhem with his best buds. Complete with cool kung fu moves.
BigBro watching his pals (all the older siblings).
Lil'Bro trying a split. "Ooooooow! This huuuuuuuuurts!"
I love this shot of Lil'Bro riding the ball return.
The 4 Mustketeers. They've been together since preschool. That was almost 3 years ago!
The End
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Ornaments
The boys got most of the ornaments up on the tree. I only had to reposition a few. I think I put up about 6. They did the rest.
Every year, we each buy an ornament. They're all very special memory makers. I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you.
Here's the tree:
This is a cowboy boot I got last year. It's some kind of heavy resin.
Cowboy riding a bucking bronco. Cut metal:
Ceramic cardinal bell. His feet are the clapper:
Elvis in white jumpsuit (I lost the Elvis in 1969 comeback black outfit in the divorce):
Little plastic gray kitty (makes me think of my long gone gray kitty):
Gumball machine:
Little kitty book:
This was a little blank book key chain. In 2000, we started writing the year and where we lived at Christmas.
Christmas Pickle picked up this year:
There is a legend that the pickle ornament is a German tradition. I'll ask my two German friends but a quick Google search makes me think it's not quite spot on.
Sock Monkey picked up in 2009:
Every year, we each buy an ornament. They're all very special memory makers. I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you.
Here's the tree:
This is a cowboy boot I got last year. It's some kind of heavy resin.
Cowboy riding a bucking bronco. Cut metal:
Ceramic cardinal bell. His feet are the clapper:
Elvis in white jumpsuit (I lost the Elvis in 1969 comeback black outfit in the divorce):
Little plastic gray kitty (makes me think of my long gone gray kitty):
Gumball machine:
Little kitty book:
This was a little blank book key chain. In 2000, we started writing the year and where we lived at Christmas.
Christmas Pickle picked up this year:
There is a legend that the pickle ornament is a German tradition. I'll ask my two German friends but a quick Google search makes me think it's not quite spot on.
Sock Monkey picked up in 2009:
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